2015年2月25日 星期三

Pineapple Kingdom Part 2

By 1935, 40 years into the Japanese Colonial rule, Taiwan already had 54 companies with 78 factories producing canned pineapples. Then the 台湾合同鳳梨株式会社Formosan Consolidated Pineapple Corp, Ltd, took over. A rare photo of its Takao [Kaohsiung] plant assembly lines is shown below:

Taken on July 5, 1938

It can be seen that most workers were women with a few young men mixed in [in fact, 101 women and 16 men at this plant]. Ladies wore white caps and aprons and boys, white shirts and short pants. With rubber gloves on, they stood and worked on both sides of the assembly lines. The design of this Kaohsiung plant was copied from that in Hawaii, then the world's biggest canned pineapple producer. It emanated a sense of cleanliness and efficiency. Each assembly line worked at a pace of 50 cans per minute, and the factory total output was 56,000 cans on each 10-hour workday. It was also a showcase, a must-see sight for VIPs visiting from Japan.

Sun-shade, a product of 台湾合同鳳梨株式会社

F.P., another of 台湾合同鳳梨株式会社

The 台湾合同鳳梨株式会社 was created in June, 1935, by the Japanese Colonial Gov't, essentially a monopoly, which bought out 53 existing producers and consolidated their operations. In conjunction with factories affiliated with 東洋製缶株式会社Toyo Packing Corp, Ltd, large-scale production soon commenced in 36 plants (streamlined from the original 78). This buy-out was not without Taiwanese resistance, however. The 大甲鳳梨缶詰商会Taiko Pineapple Packing Business Assoc with 60 workers, headed by Mr 許天徳, remained independent. And in October, 1935, 許's company became the Taiwanese-owned 大同拓殖Datong Takushoku after relocating to 石垣島Ishigaki in Okinawa, and stayed active in pineapple growing and canning. [Note: to escape being absorbed into gov't monopolies, Taiwanese businessmen often moved off-shore to Canton, Hainan, or Okinawa, outside the sphere of influence of the Japanese Colonial Gov't.] Further, because of the high profitability, underground manufacturing and shipping (to China and Japan) also continued unabated.

Canned pineapple packed by Taiko 大甲 - Pine is shorthand for pineapple

The demand for war materiel during the Pacific War, especially metal, had put an end to canning of anything in Taiwan, including pineapple. Canned pineapple production did resume after the war reaching a height in 1971 (see Part 1).

TaipeiMarc of Taipics.com has kindly provided vintage labels of canned pineapples shown above with more below:

新高山Niitakayama by Sakamaki & Co, based in Taipei

Sokei-bijin (double-chicken beauty) brand, packed in Changhua

Kabuto, produced in Kaohsiung

Aboriginal Brand made in Feng-Shan

This post is based on a paper by 北村嘉恵, 『境界研究』特別号 （2013), pp 133-139 (here)